One Shots from the Surface
by MisguidedGhostWriter
Summary: Near Mt Ebott lives a family of monsters and humans. Frisk, Papyrus, Sans, Asirel, Toriel, and Chara. This is a collection of short stories from their life on the surface.


**~Summary: Chara comes down with the flu and their family takes good care of them.~**

Influenza. Out of all the monstrous things that had been unable to stop the relentless demon of the VOID, a flu now left the young human bedridden. Chara laid flat on their back, an icepack on their forehead, and a blanket kicked off to the side. Their stomach growled. They moaned in pain and curled in on themselves. They didn't want to puke again. The ice pack slipped off, they didn't make an effort to put it back on.

They heard their bedroom door open, and soft footsteps. Someone flipped on the light, and even though Chara's eyes were closed, the change in light made their head pound. "Ooowwww." They whimpered, scrunching their eyes closed even more, and flinching at the pain that brought.

"S-sorry, Chara, I, um, came to check up on y-you." The voice belonged to Alphys.

Chara didn't protest as cool claws tilted their head up, and placed a thermometer in their mouth. "H-how is your artificial SOUL holding up?" The dinosaur asked.

Chara's attention shifted to the small locket hanging at their chest, a SOUL Alphys had created to bring Chara back. Azzy had one too. "Fine." They said, with a shiver. "But, I feel like...like…" They fell into a coughing fit.

Alphys nodded, "Ya, your b-body looks like your old one, but it's...it's all new. That means your im-m-m-mune system is basically n-nothing."

"That sucks." Chara grunted.

Alphys stroked the sweat off Chara's forehead. "Y-you'll get better." She stuttered.

The thermometer beeped. The sound was urgent. The pitch of it made Chara want to cry.

Alphys sighed. "You're at 104 f-fahrenheit. I'll g-get you some medicine."

Chara nodded. "Thank you Alphys." They croaked, coughing again.

"You're welcome." Alphys gave Chara a pat on the shoulder and picked up the abandoned ice pack, pacing it on Chara's head again. Chara held it there, taking brief comfort in the cold.

Alphys left the room, and soon came back with a thick syrup in a blue bottle. She gave Chara the medicine, using a small plastic cup. Chara screwed up their face at the taste. "I-it will make you tired, so do-do yourself a favor and sleep, okay?" Alphys asked.

Chara nodded. Alpys left. Chara laid in misery until the medicine muddled their thoughts. They slept for awhile.

Their dreams were not pleasant, but, thankfully, their mind was too out-of-place for them to remember much about them. But even when they woke, bits of the dream stuck with them. There was theirself, laughing, just, laughing. There was a buttercup pie. A bloody knife. Discarded bandages. Streams of dust bleeding from open wounds. And they were just...laughing, laughing to tears. They hobbled to an edge, a hole in the side of a mountain. Then they were falling. They hit some hellish surface and looked up, and screamed at what they saw. It was a familiar skeleton, looking down at them, his eyes dark in golden sunlight. They screamed and screamed and screamed, hoping, praying, wishing they would wake up. Words came out of their mouth. They couldn't control the sounds.

"I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!" They screamed.

"hey, hey, kid, kiddo, come on, you're fine. wake up." The skeleton spoke, taking Chara in his arms.

Chara kept screaming. The skeleton put them down on...a bed. They were cold, so cold. They kept crying. Now their words were pitiful whimpers. "I'm a bad person." they sniffed. "I should be dead. I should be dead. Just kill me." They clawed at their arms, encouraging old wounds to open again.

"no, no, kiddo, just breath, it was just a nightmare." The skeleton reassured, sitting on the bed and pulling Chara into his lap.

"I killed them." Chara sniffed, "I killed them I killed them I killed them." They repeated the words like a mantra, ingraining them in their head.

Sans was silent for a moment.

"ya, you did." He responded, running his bony fingers through Chara's hair. "but it won't happen again, right?"

Chara just sobbed more.

Sans cradled the child until their crying stopped. Chara's head still felt fuzzy, but it was better than their head hurting. They could only stare at the floor. "Right." They choked.

Sans relaxed a little at that. He hugged Chara close to him. Chara hugged back. "heh...i'll tell alphys to lower the dose on that medicine a little." He muttered, "it doesn't seem to have the best effects on you."

Chara didn't respond. What were they doing, exactly? Hugging someone? Who? Why? How? Their thoughts slipped through their skull, and they laughed. "I...I'm dreaming, huh?" They asked. No one could hug them, they were a ghost now. No one could be close to them ever again. They had squandered hugs. "It's a good dream...for once. I don't deserve it." A name bubbled up to them, the name of the person they must be hugging. The only person who would ever hug them back. "Azzy…" They addressed their spector, "We should go...bug hunting sometime, okay? If I'm dreaming anyway." They tried to nuzzle up to the monster they were hugging, they expected fur, or a warm knit sweater but they were met with a blue hoodie, and bone underneath. Right, they were with Sans. Chara blushed.

Sans just stroked Chara's hair. He paused and pressed his bony hand into Chara's cheek, trying to gauge the severity of their fever.

Chara nuzzled into the touch, a bit like a puppy. "S...Sans...I'm glad you're alive." They said.

Sans kissed the top of their head. "i'm glad you are too. get some rest kid."

For once, Chara did as they were told. They fell into an abyss of sleep. In their dream, they were happy. They followed Asriel around Home. They caught bugs. They made daisy chains. They talked. They stared up at the hole Chara had fallen through and basked in the warm rays of sun that found them.

Chara woke up and it was dark. Their headache had returned. They were wrapped in a blanket like a small child. Sans was gone.

Chara managed to untangle theirself and stand up, shivering, and coughing as they did. Their stomach ached with emptiness, and the pain was enough to force them to their knees, where they dry heaved until they couldn't breath. They lied in a heap after that, trying to regain some semblance of control. Their artificial SOUL dangled around their neck as they stood again. Water, they needed water. They threw the blanket over their shoulders and hobbled from the room, opening door, and clicking on the hall light. But on the way, they ran into someone, literally. It was Frisk. Chara hobbled backwards at the collision. Frisk held their ground, and reached out a hand to steady the other child.

"W-watch where you're going, dork." Chara said half-heartedly, trying to act tough for Frisk's sake.

Frisk saw through the act and wrapped Chara in a hug. Chara tried to protest, but relaxed into the embrace. "Heh...I've had more hugs today then I've had in 100 years." they informed.

Frisk giggled.

"Can you get me some water?" Chara asked.

Frisk nodded, leaving the hug. They signed: 'I heard you coughing, and came to check on you. Let's get you some water. Could you hold down chicken soup and crackers?'

Chara shrugged, "Maybe." They allowed, their voice little more than a scrape.

Frisk led Chara into the livingroom, there Chara smiled. Ahead of them, sitting on the couch with her latest sewing project, was Toriel.

Toriel looked up from her work and smiled. "My child, I'm glad to see that you're up. Come and sit with me for a bit.

Frisk smiled and nudged Chara toward the couch before walking on to the kitchen.

Chara, still in their blanket cocoon, walked over to Toriel and curled up next to her. Tori opened her arms and wrapped the child in a hug, the 3rd one Chara had had that day.

"Some of your color has returned." Toriel informed. "That must mean you're getting better."

Chara nodded, not able to do much else.

Tori rubbed Chara's back. "You will be well soon I promise." There was sadness to her voice.

"D-don't be upset mom." Chara muttered. "I know it's not so good for me to be like this...again."

"It's not." Tori agreed, "But I will take care of you, I swear."

Chara gave a delirious giggle. "Y-you're the best mom ever." They murmured.

Time passed in a rush, moving at agonizing speeds. Maybe Chara dozed off again, and maybe they didn't, but either way, Toriel held onto them.

They were on the brink of consciousness when a voice jolted them awake.

"CHARA? HUMAN? CH-OH! SANS, BROTHER, I, THE GET PAPYRUS, HAVE FOUND THEM!"

Chara opened their eyes and saw a tall, red-clad skeleton beaming down at them. He held in his arms a small book. "THEY ARE CUDDLING WITH TORIEL!"

There was a flash of blue light and Sans appeared next to Papyrus,looking over the ex-demon with a worried eye socket. "yup." He said calmly.

From the hall, Frisk too appeared. They were carrying a tray with soup, crackers, water, and a bit of medicine on it.

Chara felt overloaded by all this attention, their heart sped up a little and they buried their face in Toriel's fur, bitterly cold yet again.

"You boys should be asleep." Toriel said evenly, guarding the small child in her arms.

"YES, WELL, SANS WAS GOING TO READ ME MY BEDTIME STORY, AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD CHEER THE SICK HUMAN UP TO HEAR IT AS WELL!"

"That's a very sweet thought." Toriel said. "I may as well read then, if we're all up. Well, unless Sans wanted to..."

"nah tori, go 'head." Sans smiled.

She reached out a paw for the book, papyrus handed it off. Sans sat himself down in an arm chair, getting ready for a story. Papyrus sat down next to Sans, the two brothers fitting easily into the Toriel-sized chair.

"What's all the noise about?" A new voice made Chara look up in a fevered joy. At the end of the hall, in green footie pajamas was Asriel.

"Azzy!" They sqeaked like an excited toddler. "Mom's gonna read! Come sit down with me!"

Asriel laughed happily, "Okay!" he agreed, crossing the room and sitting next to Chara. The two cuddled together, Chara giving the goat-boy some of their blanket Toriel put an arm around them.

Frisk followed, handing the food to Chara, and sitting next to Azzy, Chara gave them some blanket too.

Then Toriel cleared her throat, opened the book, and began to read.

"Peek-a-boo with Fluffy Bunny" She began.

Chara fell asleep that night, for the first time in nearly 100 years, feeling safe, protected, and happy. It was the first night of many.


End file.
